Chapter 760 Trading Conditions
Philip's words immediately aroused Li Dou's interest. If the target of immigrants can be specified, even if it is just some rough screening conditions, and the scale of bringing in about a thousand people every month can be guaranteed, then even if this business requires some financial investment, The price is also worth it.
There are three categories of immigrants that Haihan currently needs most. The first category is people with a certain cultural foundation. The increasingly large official system of Haihan has a large number of vacant positions, and being able to read and write is often the basic requirement for holding these positions. One of the requirements. Most of the scholars in the Ming Dynasty took the imperial examination and became officials as their life direction. Naturalization as Haihan would undoubtedly force them to give up this life ideal, and the psychological barrier was still very large. Although many local scholars in Hainan Island have now chosen to work for Haihan, compared with the number of talents needed in the area under Haihan's jurisdiction, the gap is still very large.
Of course, some people have thought about introducing literate Han people from other countries. After all, many countries in East Asia used Chinese characters as their official languages during this period. However, due to objective reasons such as long distances and low literacy rates, the implementation results were not ideal. Only from Annan A small number of literati were introduced. In the end, Haihan had to focus on the prisoners sent to Yazhou in the Ming Dynasty. This group not only had a high literacy rate, but also had lost their personal future in the Ming Dynasty, making it easier for them to actively choose to naturalize Haihan.
The second type of immigrants are skilled craftsmen in various industries, and the demand gap in this area is also quite alarming. In the most common industries such as plasterers, carpenters, and blacksmiths, Haihan currently has a shortage of more than a thousand people. Although Haihan had begun to build a vocational training system a few years ago, the scale of its training was far unable to keep up with the talent demand brought about by Haihan's rapid expansion. For example, the Penghu base, which was recently established only a few months ago, has a serious shortage of professional craftsmen.
After the capture of Penghu, the total number of craftsmen dispatched from the base camp was less than twenty. If Fujian had not sent a large number of civilians to Penghu to help complete the infrastructure project, the time for the Penghu base to be put into use would have been delayed by at least three more than months. Since the immigration camps began to accept immigrants from the north, this shortage of professionals has been slightly alleviated. During the process of registration and identification of immigrants, the local area has quietly intercepted the craftsmen among the new immigrants.
Although the Executive Committee is still turning a blind eye to this behavior of the Penghu base, everyone knows that this kind of water interception is only a short-term means and cannot be used in the long term. If Taiwan is to be developed in the future, we still have to find ways to introduce more professional craftsmen.
The third category of immigrants in short supply is various professional service personnel, such as maids who serve people with tea and water. For the time travelers, the most difficult time has basically passed, and providing necessary life enjoyment and personal welfare for all time travelers has gradually been put on the agenda. After all, the main purpose of most people participating in time travel is I want to come to this time and space to be a master and enjoy the glory and wealth. Although it is not yet time to arrange the seats for the title of marquis and the prime minister, with the current economic conditions of Haihan, it is no longer a big problem to provide basic life service personnel for all travelers.
If Philip can really provide these types of immigrants to Haihan on a long-term basis, then the Executive Committee will probably not set too many obstacles to this kind of transaction. On the contrary, it may allocate special funds for this purpose to promote this kind of transaction. Expansion of scale. However, Philip's identity was undoubtedly a sensitive point worth noting. Although Li Dou was very interested in what he proposed, he did not forget to find out Philip's true purpose.
"The transaction terms you want are to exchange these immigrants for various commodities produced by us?" Li Dou had to confirm this from the West Bank before he could discuss the follow-up details with Philip.
"Yes, that's right. The glass products, porcelain, cane sugar, spices, liqueurs you produce...many of them are trading items that I am interested in. If necessary, I can make a detailed list of alternatives. Philip responded excitedly: "I can swear on the reputation of the Philip family that you will never suffer a loss in the transaction."
Of course, Li Dou would not casually trust a foreigner whom he met for the first time. He just laughed off Philip's swearing and continued to ask: "Are you sure you won't put forward any other transaction conditions?"
This time Philip did not respond immediately after hearing what the translator said. Instead, he hesitated for a moment before speaking again: "Since the East India Company set foot in Formosa several years earlier than you did, the ownership of the island should belong to the East India Company." Company, I hope you will not easily destroy the hard-won peace.”
The Formosa mentioned by Philip refers to the island of Taiwan. This name is a transliteration of the exclamation word Formosa given by the Portuguese sailors who arrived in the area in the early mid-16th century. Later, Spanish and Dutch colonists also adopted this name. During the historical rule of the Dutch East India Company, Governor Anthony van Diemen, who had just led the army to defeat the Materan army in Batavia not long ago, also used the name "Holmore" in official documents during his tenure. "Sha" refers to the island of Taiwan.
Li Dou couldn't help but raise his lips slightly when he heard this: "What exactly do you want to say? You might as well say it clearly."
"I heard that you recently sent people into Formosa. We think this is an extremely unfriendly action. We hope that you will stop this reckless behavior as soon as possible. This is not beneficial to both of us." Philip plucked up the courage to finally reveal his true purpose.
"Mr. Philip, first of all, I must point out that there are many loopholes in your statement that people cannot agree with." Li Dou tapped his fingers lightly on the table, thinking about his words as he spoke: "Both of us Let’s not mention the difference in the name of this island. As far as I know, your current control area on the island is only about 20 miles around Damuan Port. The East India Company wants to use this to propose a north-south settlement. Is it too much to have control over an island that is more than 700 miles away from each other?”
"No, no, no, we built a new church three months ago thirty miles away from Damuan Port because a new immigrant village has appeared there." Philip immediately corrected Li Dou's words. Inaccuracies. However, he didn't seem to realize his anxious defense, and instead gave the other party more solid evidence.
"Compared to seven hundred miles, is there a big difference between twenty miles and thirty miles?" Sure enough, Li Dou immediately seized the loophole in his words and ridiculed: "You just occupied the edge of this big island. Isn’t it too greedy to claim sovereignty over the entire island and prohibit others from entering a small harbor? ""This is an internationally accepted practice..."
Philip continued to try to argue, but Li Dou was not going to let him finish his sentence: "I remember that the Ambrosia Islands in the South China Sea were already occupied by the Chinese hundreds of years ago. The East India Company seized the territory more than ten years ago. At that time, no one seemed to care about any rules such as international conventions? ”
"The Ambuna Islands are a special situation..." Phillip began to sweat a little on his forehead. He didn't expect that such a young Haihan official would be as difficult as an old fox, and every word struck him just right. The shortcomings are that I am at a loss for words in just a few words.
"The so-called international practices are just codes of conduct for the weak! When did your company ask for the opinion of the original owner when it established a colony in the Far East? Aren't they all forcibly taken over with muskets and cannons? In the past, you stepped on it When you step on other people's faces, you probably never thought that one day someone would step on your own face, right?" Li Dou unceremoniously refuted Philip's "international practice."
Before Philip could think of words to refute, Li Dou continued: "It has been seven or eight years since your company settled in Damuan Port. It has not even completed the construction of Fort Relandja. What qualifications do you have to claim sovereignty over the entire island?" ?”
Li Dou's words undoubtedly hit the sore point of the East India Company. Since the location of Taiwan Island is too far away from the East India Company's headquarters in Batavia, the number of immigrants resettled by the Dutch there is too small and it is difficult to have enough immigrants. output, resulting in Taiyuan Port having to rely on the headquarters to provide various supplies to maintain the operation of the colony for a long time, and the tight supply of supplies made it impossible for the local colonial institutions to attract more foreign populations to their jurisdiction. settle down. Such a vicious cycle resulted in the Dalian Port Colony only roughly completing the first phase of the Fort Jelandja project several years after its establishment, which greatly slowed down the originally planned development process.
If the colony develops at a relatively normal rate, even if it cannot occupy the entire Hainan Island like the Haihan people did over the years, at least the controllable sphere of influence will not be limited to the small area of Damuan Port. However, slow infrastructure slowed down the development of the colony. In the past, this situation did not seem to have much negative impact. After all, the Dutch's competitors in this area were not strong. Portugal and Spain were both foreign colonizers. However, the influence on the island is far less than that of the Netherlands, and the most powerful Ming Dynasty has no interest in this island. The only opponents are the indigenous people on the island.
Of course, the degree of armed force possessed by the natives on the island is not enough to compete with the Dutch for territory. As long as the Dutch control their own feet and don't go deep into the mountains and actively provoke the bellicose mountain natives, there won't be any big trouble.
Not only that, the Dutch also enlisted the pirates of Shibazhi as their bodyguards to ensure that no one in this area could challenge the authority of the East India Company. It was not until the appearance of the Haihan people that this situation suddenly changed. .
In July last year, the armed fleet sent by the Haihan people to assist the Fujian Ming army defeated the East India Company's fleet on Nanri Island. The Dutch, who had never noticed Haihan, a rising star, finally discovered how big their mistake was. , this ethnic group that quietly settled in the territory of the Ming Dynasty did not become a parasite like the Portuguese. Its combat effectiveness was so high that the Dutch were simply stunned. Only then did they understand why the Portuguese took the initiative to repair relations with Haihan after suffering losses in Annan, and why the Fujian government spared no effort to promote cooperation with Haihan, and even wanted to enshrine the Haihan people as gods.
Less than a year later, Shibazhi, who had suffered consecutive defeats, finally could not withstand Haihan's military pressure, and finally chose to abandon his hometown and flee outside Haihan's sphere of influence. The escape of Shibazhi means that the only barrier between Taiwan Island and the mainland has disappeared, which is equivalent to completely exposing Damuan Port to the muzzle of the Haihan warship. At this time, the Dutch in Taiyuan Port felt the real pressure, and they were always worried about the Haihan people launching a surprise attack on Taiyuan Port. Although the first phase of the Fort Relanje project has been completed, the Dutch are also very aware that the current Fort Relanje can only deal with the backward and primitive indigenous people and their Western counterparts with sparse troops. They want to deal with the level of armed forces of the Haihan militia. The extremely high professional army is not enough with the current Fort Geranje.
With the lessons learned from last year's failure, Taiyuan Port no longer dared to send out armed fleets to expel the Haihan people occupying Penghu. The consequence of doing so would probably not be to eliminate the hidden danger of Haihan, but would most likely lead to the consequences of getting burned. The only hope is that the Haihan people can strictly abide by the armistice agreement signed last year and not take the initiative to interfere with the area occupied by the Dutch. Of course, it is just a hope. The Dutch themselves do not really believe that the validity period of this armistice agreement will last too long. long time.
After all, in the process of marching into the Far East, they had signed many armistice agreements with the Portuguese, French, Spanish, and British. However, small-scale frictions and conflicts still occurred every year. No one would really care about this. An agreement bound oneself. In the final analysis, what everyone cares about is not how the agreement goes, but whether they can defeat their opponents and obtain enough benefits.
What the Dutch had been worrying about for months finally happened recently. Through certain news channels, the Dutch learned that Haihan had sent a fleet to the center of Taiwan Island in October, and that a large number of armed personnel landed ashore and stayed there for several days.
The Dutch have yet to find out what these armed men did there, but one thing is obvious. The Haihan people did not turn a blind eye to the land around them. They had not taken any action before, perhaps just because they had not done anything yet. Just prepare accordingly. And this landing is very likely to indicate that the Haihan people will take action on this land next.
(End of chapter)